smudge,
I think most of us ex 'K' chaps can relate to the tale you have just told. The armchair 'experten' back home always thought we were swinging the lead.
Not the first time either that I have set off on a simple Akro n/s to return home many days later.
One on of these Akro n/s we turned up at ops expecting to go straight to Lyneham only to be told we were to go to Athens. A 'K' loaded with a fast jet squadron move was u/s. We were to take his load and go home from there.
So off we go. As we are taxing in I start to laugh over the i/c. We are in a Mk1 and the u/s 'K' is a Mk3 (stretched). The captain asks why I am laughing as he is sure group has not made an error. I am equally sure that any fast jet squadron move will be full to bursting. (on the 'we may just need it' grounds).
We shut down and I liberate the key from the battery box and climb aboard the striken a/c.
It is very full.
So I shut up the Mk3 and put the key back. The co organises a phone patch with group and I ask the ops controller which bit of the cargo he wants left behind. A bit of a tirade ensues (he is only talking to an ALM after all). When I get a word in I point out the physical impossibility of a straight transfer as our a/c is 15 ft too short. The penny drops at last and we are brusquely told to return to Akro and they will make other arrangements.
It could all still be there now !